Post-Capitalism and New Feminism

Not Just a Housewife

In this week’s Spot, Sadhguru posts an excerpt from a recent “In Conversation” with Juhi Chawla on the question of motherhood and career. Sadhguru says, “I have asked many ladies, ‘What are you doing?’ They say, “’Oh, I am just a housewife…’ They do not seem to understand the significance of being able to nurture two or three new lives.” Sadhguru describes the responsibility and beauty of being a mother, and about whether mothers should also have a career. Enjoy!

Juhi Chawla: Today, many women in our modern society are stepping out and having a career. What do you think about women having a career, managing a home and being financially independent?

Sadhguru: Every woman should do what she wants to do as an individual. It should not be made into a trend in society or be the only right thing to do in the world. I think that if a woman intends to have two children and raise them, it is a full time job. I am not saying she should not go out and work. If she wishes to, as an individual, she is free to do what she wants. But having two children is not about reproduction. You are manufacturing the next generation of people. How the world will be tomorrow will be determined by what kind of mothers you have today.

I have asked many ladies, “What are you doing?” They say, “Oh, I am just a housewife.” I say, “Why do you say, you are just a housewife?” They do not seem to understand the significance of being able to nurture two or three new lives. It is a very important job. My mother never went about telling me, “I love you” or anything of this kind. It is just that she simply lived; it never occurred to us whether she loved us or not. Such questions never came because her whole life was dedicated to us. We know she lived for us. And I cannot imagine that part of my life without her being around.

My mother never played an active role in what I am, but without the ambience that she set for me¸ I would never be what I am. She gave her life to set that ambience, knowing fully well it will play out somewhere. That has been the most important thing she did for me. Why would anybody think this is not an important job? In early life, we never had to think about anything. She simply made sure the background was always there. We lived unconcerned about what was happening around us; this is what gave me the possibility of sitting with my eyes closed for days on end.

Right now, we have made the whole world into economics. Money is just procurement of things that you need. Men were procuring and women were talking about the more beautiful aspects of life. Now, women also want to procure. If there is such an economic need in the family – fine, she must do it — but it must not be set up as something better to do. If she sings, plays music or cooks — or if she just loves her children — she lives beautifully, like a flower. It is good enough.

It should not be that a woman is only doing something valuable if she earns money. If there is an economic need, or if she has a passion for it, she can do it. But let us not set up such values in the world. Society would not be evolving; it would be regressing by making survival more important than the aesthetics of life.